The Real Harvey Epstein Was Totally Cool with the ‘SNL’ Sketch Poking Fun at His Name
One of the better sketches from the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live in no way involved the presidential election — although it did involve an election.
A mock political commercial found host John Mulaney playing “Harvey Epstein,” a New York state assemblyman running for city council, even in spite of the fact that he shares names with “two of the most notorious sex perverts of all-time.”
As SNL’s Epstein points out, “If my names are this bad and I’m still running for public office, think of how much better I’d have to be than anyone else. That’s just math!”
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Although, at one point he does admit, “I’m not gonna lie, the name thing has become a bit of an issue. Harvey I can almost handle, but Epstein?"
Epstein/Mulaney begins the ad by proclaiming, “This is a real thing.” That’s because non-New Yorkers may not be aware that there’s actually a guy named Harvey Epstein currently running for city council. So was he pissed off that SNL made such a meal out of his less-than-ideal name? Seemingly not. His first word on the matter was to post a message agreeing with his fictional doppelganger that we shouldn’t start referring to Manhattan as “Epstein’s island.”
Epstein (as in Harvey) also spoke to The New York Times about his newfound global celebrity. According to the real-life assemblyman, he had no idea that he was going to be the focus of an SNL sketch so he went to bed early on Saturday night, only to wake up to “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of texts the following morning.
Luckily he seems to have a good sense of humor about the whole thing. “So I watched it, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s me,” Epstein told The Times. “It was, like, ridiculously funny. I couldn’t stop laughing.”
The sketch was somewhat accurate in representing Epstein’s platform, which really does focus on tenants’ rights. “That’s a great part of the sketch,” Epstein told City & State New York, while also admitting that it was “a little freaky” to see the star of Everybody’s in L.A. donning a bald cap and earrings to play him. SNL even used the actual logo from the real Epstein’s campaign.
To his credit, Epstein is also using his 15 minutes of fame to do some good in the world. Since the sketch is predicated on the fact that Epstein shares his name with “two horrible human beings,” Epstein encouraged his followers to donate to RAINN, the “the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization.”
“It’s really critical that I take the joy out of the joke and also be serious about issues of domestic violence,” Epstein stated.
It remains to be seen whether or not the sketch will help Epstein in the election, but everyone deserves a second chance — sorry, we forgot, he’s still on his first chance.
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